A quiet belief in Angels

Airport Angel is a new service that gives you access to airport lounges around the world and will send you text messages when your plane is ready to board. The basic package starts at around $130 per year, with a $30 fee for per lounge visit. The UK-based service will tell you where and when to check in, how to get to your registered lounge and where to board when the final call is announced. Texts cost an additional $3 each. There is also an arrival service that ou can nominate someone to receive details like the estimated time of arrival and updates of any delays.

Why the time is nearly up for Templehof

Berlin

Originally uploaded by Minstermen and Peacocks

Templehof International Airport, site of the Berlin airlift and arguably the most classically beautiful airport in the world is set to close this October. I for one will be a little sad as, although UK flights haven't flown there for some time, it was one of the places i used to fly into when i started travelling to Berlin.

Although tainted by the Nazis, and used to be a Zeppelin station, Templehof always for me spoke of the 50s. It was also small, under-commercialised and fantastically located, just south of Kreuzberg. It also didnt' have the usual style gates that stick out like spokes, just one sweeping curve that opened onto the runway, in the way you imagine airports to be in your dreams

Terminal failure

The eagerly anticipated launch of Terminal five (T5) at London Heathrow couldn't have been worse. Flights to Manchester, Paris, Brussels, Newcastle and Edinburgh were among those cancelled. As the Leader in the Guardian of London observed, "it would be no bad thing if they never resumed. The world's most overworked airport has become a bloated catastrophe, a transit point for travellers who could be carried more efficiently and environmentally by other routes. The chaos of the last few days has been awful for passengers and fairly humiliating for Britain, but it might in the end do some good if it leads to a rethink of endless airport expansion in a country where transport policy appears to be dictated by the needs of Fortress Heathrow."

US airports increasingly do it doggy-style

According to USA Today a growing number of 24-hour "pet hotels" are being built inside or near several north American airports.

Travelers can find "pet hotels" near the airports at Jacksonville, New Orleans and Portland, Ore. Pet hotel operators have plans to open facilities or are in discussions with Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Chicago O'Hare, Chicago Midway, Houston Bush Intercontinental, Houston Hobby and Minneapolis.

"Given that more people have pets, it's just a natural progression of services that airports should offer," Saq Nadeem, founder of Paradise 4 Paws told the newspaper. Paradise 4 Paws, which will open next month near Chicago O'Hare, will even operate a long-term, 22-spot parking lot on-site, so that its customers can take the shuttle directly to the airport. Daily rates for dog hotels can range widely — from $15 a night for a cage at the local veterinarian office to $70 for a large room with extra perks. The company has two locations within a mile of the airports at Jacksonville and New Orleans and plans to open at Houston Intercontinental and Houston Hobby.

Beijing's new airport is an Olympic construction

The Independent of London has an excellent article on Beijing's new airport.

Its praise is extremely fullsome: "To descend the walkways into Beijing's gleaming terminal 3 is to enter China's vision of 21st-century air travel and, more than that, Chinese authorities' vision of their country. That most ancient of Chinese symbols, the dragon, is overlaid with state-of-the-art technology to produce an airport building that is beautiful, efficient and environmentally sustainable."

The very long and winding road

What the hell is happening at the brand spanking new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad? The new airport, which will open on March 16, is equipped with a 70m high air traffic control tower, India's longest runway (capable of handling the world's largest aircraft the Airbus A380) a seven-storey passenger terminal, 42 parking bays, 60 check-in counters, a business hotel with 308 rooms and shopping outlets ... but officials seemingly forgot to build a decent road, let alone a modern metro top the airport.

Hyderabad, often dubbed cyberbad, is meant to be one of India's hi-tech cities, super-keen on winning more foreign visitors, business and investment. It seems obvious that 25km of bad roads to the new airport does not a good first impression make, even if a modern elavated highway is in the pipeline.

Hats off to new exhibition

The hiring of the first female cabin crews by airlines in the 1930s necessitated the creation of uniforms for a new profession. The San Francisco Airport Museum is currently exhibiting a celebration of one element of that the uniform that has all but dissappeared: the cap. Visitors to the entrance lobby of Terminal 3 will be able to see for themselves the evolution of a garment that has often added the "crowning touch in the fashions of flight."

Airports we love #2: Portland, Oregon (PDX)

Oh Portland, why do we love thee? Let me count the ways. Free WiFi in every terminal; "business centers" with power ports that are perfect for killing time before a flight; light rail directly to the city center. The "Mexican" food chain store near Terminal C has power ports along the baseboards near the tables. But maybe most of all its the connections. We loved being able to take well-designed public transit to our hotel downtown for just $3.


Major plus: It extra fun shopping because of the lack of sales tax.
Major drawback: The conservative interior design of PDX belies a cosmopoliatan and outlooking cities in the US

Us airports face ever longer delays

Wired Magazine has rated the US airports that face the longest delays and rendered it in a useful Google Map. It makes grim reading for anyone flying in or through the States. "The year 2007 was the worst for flight delays," it reads, "since the [US] government began keeping stats more than a decade ago. In 2002, 17 percent of flights arrived late (defined by the Federal Air Authority as delayed 15 minutes or more). Last summer it was nearly a third, and travel in 2008 won't be much better."


Newark Liberty is bottom of the list, racking up an astonishing average of 72.8 minutes for arrival delays and 67.3 minutes for departures

Airports we love #1: Helsinki Vantaa

Bright, gleaming, super-efficient Helsinki-Vantaa is one of the reasons we chose to build this blog in the first place. It takes just minutes to get through security (who rank among the most pleasant staff we have encountered). Branches of Marimekko, Iitala and Stockman make shopping an uplifting experience (hunt out bars of delicious Fazer chocolate in the latter). Good coffee, a well-stocked newstand full of international media and German Weissbeir on tap in the bar. Need we say more?

Major plus: Beyond Gate 33 is one of the most stylish smoking rooms remaining in any aiport.(unfortunately you have to pass through passport control to reach it)
Major drawback: No metro connection from the city centre (although an excellent local bus service more than compensates).

Found in airports #1: the curious signage of Milan Malpensa

Milan's third airport is a rather dull, rundown affair, although one that's reasonably functional. It is certainly not one of our favourites. One of the hardest things to find in terminal 2 is the right sign for departures. There are, however, lots of ideosyncratic signs for plenty of other things. On the right is a sign for news, the middle is one for the church and, our favourite, second on the left, is one for the cafeteria (we made the mistake of thinking it looked like a DJ turntable).